“The UK’s heroin trade is increasing at an alarming rate and most of the cash helps arm terrorists with bombs and guns.”

The US has already been ­targeted in the evil campaign which mirrors a terror plot in the new James Bond novel Devil May Care.

Between 1990 and 2005 Taliban-linked drug peddler Haji Baz Mohammed raked in a staggering £17billion by pouring heroin into North America.

He told a US court that “selling heroin was a jihad because they were taking Americans’ money and the heroin was killing them”.

Now the fanatics have made the UK their top target. A whopping 30 tonnes of heroin is being smuggled into Britain every year.

The drug is grown in the Afghan badlands and bought for £1,500 a kilo in neighbouring Pakistan.

It’s finally sold on Britain’s streets, often in the backs of cabs or over kebab shop counters, at between £30 and £50 a gram.

Asian gangs are operating in South London, Luton, Preston, Manchester, Leeds, Oldham, Birmingham and Bradford. Our investigators went on the hunt for heroin in Luton and did a deal in the back of a taxi.

Pulling out a handful of wraps, the ­driver said: “I’ll sort you a fix for £10 but a gram’s £50. It’s knockout gear.” Asked where the drugs came from he said: “Poppy fields between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“The big bosses have Taliban and al-Qaida connections and we’re often told only to deal it to non-Muslims. They call it ­chemical jihad and hope to ruin lives while ­getting massive payouts at the same time.

“I’m more interested in the money. I knock it out to anyone, ­whatever their beliefs.

“But there are lots of big-­hitters who only sell to non-Muslims – to poison them.”

One of the Asian gangs is the so-called Gambino clan – a 100-strong mob named after the ­notorious US crime family.

A 40-year-old small-time dealer turned Christian told us: “The Gambinos are the Pakistani Muslim gang that control most of the drug trade in Luton – and they’ve all got good connections to al-Qaida.

“Heroin and crack are on sale 24 hours a day and they get local taxi drivers to drive the gear around and do deals. “It’s a massive business. They’re untouchable.”

But the gangs are leaving a trail of misery. Just ask hollow-eyed junkie Greg Yates, one of 280,000 addicts in the UK.

Huddled up and shaking on a bridge near Luton rail station, the 42-year-old former mechanic told us his £80-a-day habit had destroyed his life.

“I can’t function without the hits,” he sobbed. “I’ve lost my job, my home and my family.